There has been much speculation about the Nexus 6P's big black glass bar. What does it do? Why is it so big? Why does it kind of look like a Cylon head? Well, the answer is that, unsurprisingly, it's just form following function. You see, because the 6P is predominantly made of aluminum, which acts as a reflector to various radio and other wireless signals in the device, there needs to be a place for antennas to send out their various signals. You can accomplish this with ceramic or plastic inserts like HTC or Apple, or you can construct portions of the phone from different materials (like glass) to help those precious wireless communiques get out.

The Nexus 6P's big glass window serves as a home for the rear camera, dual LED flash, laser autofocus module, NFC coil (yes, really), as well as an outlet for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and some mobile data connectivity. There is an additional plastic window along the bottom of the phone for the main cellular antenna, as well.

We got this information directly from Google, from a person working on the design of both Nexus devices, so it's legit. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of the Nexus 6P's big, black bar (which is made of Gorilla Glass 4, by the way).

Qualcomm already has wireless charging working with metal bodied phones.

TomCos

Yes but it takes months to develop a phone and Qualcomm only just announced it. It's a shame really, Qualcomm should have made their announcements about their new chipsets weeks after this device launched. It's probably the reason I won't buy either of them :(

OligarchyAmbulance

Thank you. The last three days have been nothing but "metal phones can't have wireless charging!!!!11!" which is completely untrue.

AK

Still ugly, IMO.

someone755

From the front, absolutely, the phone is boring as hell.
From the back ... eh, at least it's something new. And it's reminiscent of the bulge Moto phones once had, and I quite liked that.

Badouken

It looks fine in black, but white and silver it looks kinda gross.

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

Stop talking like that about your mom, she made an effort to put makeup for you.

Daniel Walsh

Still ugly as hell

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

Respect your parents! Stop talking like that about your mother, she put makeup for you!

Merewoodbebox

i like it

J2bv16

Very nice

Scofabear

so glad the bar is made of GG4!
PS i thought unlocking your phone with your finger on the back, and tapping the back of the phone to the pay terminal would be awkward. This is the solution

Gustavok

GG4 on the back seems to be an awesome response to the nexus 4 back shattering fever. (Source: I'm a N4 with shattered back glass owner)

Retsu Unohana ®

Every time I see that phone.

Đức Thành

Thank you now I can never unsee it

Srinivas Arnepalli

Thank you now I wish it shot laser beams.

Detonation

Technically the camera does

Đức Thành

I guess the X stands for x-men... Oh wait this is the 6P, not the 5X.

Eisenhorn1976

Cyclops beams aren't laser. They're concussive blasts of energy from another universe that doesn't follow the same physical laws.

To be fair, wireless charging is pretty piss poor. What's so special about that, when the charge takes hours? When all you have to do is plug it in for about 30 minutes and you're probably fully charged.

The tech isn't keeping up

BillyGardiner

Because I sleep for hours... And sometimes before I sleep for hours, I drink for hours... And sometimes, when I have drunk for hours, I have difficulty putting a small thing into a small hole (intended).

Type C helps but Qi AND Type C would be great.

Jeremiah Pierce

Well I think usb c solves basically every bit of the problem of trouble plugging in the charger. Qi charging just wasn't very efficient. Not when compared to the quick charging.

Cory S

It's a lot more efficient than not charging at all...which is what my phone would be doing right now if I didn't have a pad on my desk I could set it on every time I pick it up to check a text.

Jeremiah Pierce

Oh come on. You're trying to tell me its either one or the other? You couldn't bring your charger, or a charger to your desk?

Cory S

There is a quick charger laying right next to it. I am just unlikely to use it unless I need to charge up fast. Qi charging is great for just keeping your battery topped off during the day, when you probably wouldn't bother plugging it in. It is also nice to for overnight charging. No digging for a cable in the dark, just lay it down on your nightstand.

Jeremiah Pierce

Well with the new Doze, leaving your phone off the charger actually doesn't bother your battery hardly at all. As long as you leave it and not pick it every every second. Qi charging is just not that good currently.

Cory S

Meh, every year Google says they have cracked the battery problem, and every year they disappoint. I haven't noticed Doze doing anything that great on my Nexus 5s. Besides, it's not about combatting standby usage as much as simply keeping the battery charged without being tethered. You cant look at it as a competitor to cable charging, it's just a compliment. It's simply a really nice feature to have.

Jeremiah Pierce

Want to know the battery issue? There really isn't one for the battery itself. But the consumers obsession over numbers forces the hand of Google and apple. With the increasing screen resolution comes more power consumption. If the N6P had a 1080p display, that battery would EASILY last 2 or more days. But they put in that 2560x1440 display to appease the masses, when the masses have no idea about anything.

Cory S

I completely agree that the PPI race is ridiculous, doesn't really change my point though.

kashtrey

I hope we're done with it once we hit 4k. I mean I know display makers need to push the "next big thing" to make sales, but what else is there? Will they invent 6K soon? I hope over the next few years we get to focus on optimizing displays for better quality/accuracy and better efficiency.

Fellwalker

It is the reviewers' obsession. They tell us that thin is good, even while hiding a comment that you might need to charge it during the day.

Fellwalker

Only if you put it on a desk. No use at all if it is still in your pocket while you are sitting down, because you never sit quite still. I foresee many people putting phone on table while drinking (to save battery) then forgetting or having it "mistakenly taken" by someone else.

realist

you do know there are quick charging wireless pads?

Jeremiah Pierce

Of course I do. But at what rate do they charge? And if you are constantly picking up your phone and disconnecting it from the charge, how much of a charge are you truly getting?

realist

very fast..don't know about other, but the Samsung one charges very quickly...would say only 5% slower then a normal charger..it's just more convenient..especially while someone calls you..just pick it up and answer without the damn cable bothering you..

Jeremiah Pierce

You are right. It's so difficult to disconnect that cable.

realist

it certainly is faster.

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

I don't care that it takes hours while I'm sleeping. I like to just set my phone on the charger when I'm going to sleep and picking it up fully charged in the morning. It's a lot easier to set my phone on my tylt vu charger when it's dark than fiddling with a small connector.

Fellwalker

I agree with your username too!

Serge Cebrian

i charge at 9 my nexus 7 so by morning is charged ... and i can use it all day

and no need to be fiddleing with the connectors

at least usb c will make that really easy

Jeremiah Pierce

I'm not saying it doesn't charge. The charge itself takes longer. So, if you must leave your phone resting on the table, it doesn't really have much better potential than the quickcharge that comes with the SD810.

Serge Cebrian

i usually leave it resting when about to sleep if i need to keep usign it and has no battery well.. the old cable works :P
i can always strap the charger to the phone...

kashtrey

I think they've already hinted at the fact it's due to the quick charging inherent to USB Type C and cost.

Justin W

"Because it has a different feature" isn't a real answer. Cost is, though I suspect it's a minimal cost considering you can buy them for under $10 at the consumer level (as in, you can add it to an LG G4 for only a few dollars), meaning for a manufacturer purchasing them in bulk would lead to prices around probably $2-3 per or even less.

kashtrey

I guess the other reason is that the tech probably isn't even available. Yes, they came out with charging threw metal, but no way was it available early enough to design it into the phone.

Bri

Then why is Google selling a case that covers it in their store?

Scofabear

a plastic/tpu phone case wont block the signals, but a metal body does

Andrew Snyder

Because rubber or plastic is not a reflector

Bri

Ah I see, good to know.

Jeremiah Pierce

Why are you trying to hard to disprove AP's source?

flosserelli

Cylons, eh....
Google should have put a sequential notification light bar across the top and wrapped it all in black chrome.

Brendon

Looks like a barcode what a fail,my x pure in wood laugh seeing this shit phone

SnapGrill 810 sounds better? and i'am not talking about quick charge but turbo charge 25 its more fast

Jeremiah Pierce

You're killing my brain cells.

Brendon

i not ask your opinion faggot

atlharry

Of all the english words... jesus...

Brendon

Looks like there a grammar nazi here...faggot

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

Look at the retard saying "meatballs" over and over.

Jeremiah Pierce

It's not an opinion that you're completely ignorant.

VegasDude73

trollolololololololo

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

GO BACK TO SCHOOL retard! You can't even type a proper sentence! What kind of credibility do you think you have to criticise anything when you are dumb as fuck?

Brendon

Me now...

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

_ | _

Joel

You're just a special kind of ignorant aren't you? "I already bought a Moto X so I better get online and tell everyone how stupid they are for not liking what I like, also I'll say it in the worst, most broken english possible and use homophobic gay slurs.... that will show them all!"

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

Stupid fool. "Shit phone", really? People like you deserve to be infected with the plague. Grow up asshole.

Drewskee122

It will happen! I can see it now, Karma strikes and Ebola infects this poor soul. When the doctors determine that the Moto X was carrying the strain DELIBERATELY all along to wipe his ass out.
PS the Ebola is in the wood...SHhhh!

BigTurk

And according to the picture in the article; fingerprints. :P

hackRme

Yo won't hold the phone there fortunately

Đức Thành

This is wishful thinking but I'm hoping it houses the sensors needed for project Tango too. Would be a pleasant surprise.

Franklin Ramsey

Wouldn't they have announced this when they announced the phone? Sorry to dash your wishes.

Đức Thành

Google has a tendency to hide stuff that comes as a surprise much much later. The Nexus 5 had a magnet ring around the camera lens that could be used to attach additional optical lenses to it, which Google never said anything about, and there's products such as the new OnHub router with lots of undisclosed features Google only plans to reveal in the future.
Google likes to surprise.

Although like I said, this is just wishful thinking and the chance of it actually being true is really slim. I'm just saying that doesn't mean there's no such possibility, especially when it comes to Google.

Joe

Such an UGLY looking phone. WTF were they thinking with that shit?

Jeremiah Pierce

What do you mean "what were they thinking?" It literally says what they were thinking in the article.

No, definitely form following function. Or form decided by function. Or form because of function. Any which way you want to put it, it's all the same.

Fellwalker

They didn't have to make it stick out.

TheLimitIs70DoNotTailgate

Your face is ugly. What were your parents thinking when they had sex? I mean if each already look ugly what did they think the combination would be like, Michelangelo?

An Angry Chihuahua

THAT ONE LITTLE FINGERPRINT. DONT DO THIS TO ME AP!!!! NOOOOOO

dude

Buy one of those bottle of oleophobic substance and spray it I guess.

An Angry Chihuahua

I already have. Don't judge me

MyPhoneHasBars

Too late.

akar33

what spray? I want one.

Kevin Kuo

Oh, I thought it was hiding something sinister...because of media and such...

Eisenhorn1976

Sinister? Maybe it's hiding force blasts to fight him...

Kevin Kuo

We should try to remove the cover and tweak the kernel to see if we can increase the power of the laser module. *Hopes for the ability to cut metal*

Eisenhorn1976

Upvote! That absolutely needs to happen.

Michael Tran

That is great to hear. I was worried about the placement of NFC and if it would be in an awkward position relative to the fingerprint sensor. This is good news =)

godutch

But why, even the HTC m7 had all of those antennas without the need of such an ugly bar

JamJamBoom

Could it have something to do with it being only 4MP instead of the 12 here. I don't know, just guessing that may have contributed.

Scofabear

can you provide pics of the bottom window you are referring to?

therealbiglou

I actually really LOVE that this is for NFC. I hate never knowing exactly where my NFC coil is when doing tap-to-pay. I always just wipe my phone in circles until I hear the beep.

Eric Vaughan

Wash your hands David.

Fatal1ty_93_RUS

Oh so it's like iPad 1, same design decision

bklm1234

It's just ugly as hell. Apple will never do anything like this ugly. It looks like the elephant man. Somebody please make a case that hides that hump.

Corey

I think the Apple Watch is ugly.

erptastic

Apple rather has its phone laying uneven. I dont really like the black bar as well, but it really makes sense from an engineering perspective. See that comment regarding the big sensor.

NBMTX

eh... not too sure about that... besides, the hump seems like it'd add stability while lying back down on a surface, in addition to having ergonomic curves in hand. it also fits practical components and circumvents a handicap of the material the body's made of. I'm a bit concerned about dropping it on either side now but maybe, hopefully, there will be products for both sides.

NBMTX

I really wish there wasn't glass on the back like that... maybe I can add a small rubber or maybe felt dot to act as a sort of bumper

MJ

They should have went with Gorilla Glass 3 instead of 4 which while not as impact resistant is more scratch resistant. I am thinking will need a screen protector for my 6P just for that reason (scratches). I never went with one for my N5 and no scratches in 2 years.

NBMTX

I just checked out my retired backup Nexus 5 and it has a small scratch. Not too bad for the amount of use I got from it. I also noticed if you use your nail you can feel that the glass (?) covering the lens is every so slightly recessed so hopefully the metal surrounding this portion of the back is partially protective as well.

kashtrey

Just gonna leave this here since no one else is picking up on it (the he is Alberto Villarreal, the designer of the Nexus):

"He had to design around one of the largest camera sensors ever placed in a smartphone; what was he supposed to do?

'It was a big challenge,' he says. 'the sensor is pretty big, but we still wanted to have clean devices, and optimize them for ergonomics.'

Also has the hidden benefit of enabling people to "aim" the NFC when using it, potentially eliminating the "find a signal" gesture some attempt when using it. Hopefully making it feel easier to use, and therefore mre prevalent.

AndrewR91

It's nice that the bar serves as a visual cue for where the NFC is. Always a pain in the butt trying to find that sweet spot on a new device.

NBMTX

If I were at a press event, I'd consider "accidentally" fumbling the device during a quick hands on to see how either side handles it... I'm sure folks have dropped a demo device before... I'd be willing to pay for damages too... design like this always gets people (me) wondering.

gh0st_h4wk

Still ugly af.

Eric Shen

I think it looks good, and also distinct. All phones are ending up looking the same these days. Glad to see a departure.

neff

LED notification??!? Plz? Also guessing not water resistant like the 6 ? :-(

OrionBeast

ok, i might be the only bad guy here who doesn't agree with hardware design.

1) cannot use it 1 handed. how many people actually use the phone with 2 hands? most of the time i have coffee, typing or something else happening. (if you're going to use it with one hand, odds of you dropping it are significantly higher).

2) ENOUGH with comparing it with iPhone. WHY? :-( Google is admitting that, the best phone before nexus is iPhone and essentially throwing android devices under the bus.

3) Nexus 6P design is UGLY. As drop-test results will show, most 'sensors' will stop working as soon as the phone is dropped on its back, or front.

5) No processor benchmarks? this is a Nexus. you ALWAYS talk about processor/RAM specs. its supposed to be a beast.

6) Camera. they spend 7 min talking about it but i take most photos in daylight and i think it'd prefer iPhone 6S photos. (you're a troll fanboy if you think nexus 6p does better). (iPhone also happens to have a ambient tone flash that'll take a better photo depending on background lighting, something that was not mentioned if it was on or not).

7) anyone notice a 1 sec lag while they were testing the 'sensor hub' on stage? ANY phone on the market essentially does that just by 'double tapping' the screen or pressing the power button/sensor faster than 1sec.

8) new window animations? that's iOS 4 (and even iOS 9)

NBMTX

I don't think dropping a phone breaks most "sensors"... i've dropped phones many many many times and never had a sensor stop working.

true.
(i wasn't putting any of the phones i had in cases simply because of how it felt in hands, but I'm yet to drop any after I'm using speck or spigen cases).

Arthur Dent

1) I often use phones two-handed. Not always, but often.
2) Whether it offends you or not, the iPhone is the quality benchmark. Despite preferring Android, I recognize that iPhone has superb build quality and performance. If Google can convince people that 5X and 6P are it's equal or better at a lower price point, they may convince a few iPhone owners to jump ship. They don't have to convince other Android users.
3) Subjective. I'm sort of meh on it, but I don't feel it is horrid. I doubt the sensors will fail unless it is a high drop on cement, at which point your screen and all sorts of other shit is broken anyway.
4) It will likely be USB-C to USB-C in the box for the power adapter. You can connect to your computer via Wi-Fi or get a USB-C to USB-A adapter for probably a couple of bucks.
5) The phones are on pre-order, and haven't been fully reviewed. Google have specs on the store. For benchmarks, see other devices using similar processors (Nexus 5X --> LG G4; Nexus 6P --> HTC One M9). This won't be perfectly representative of final performance, but will give you a good idea of where each stands.
6) Uh, ok. Why don't we wait for full reviews and formal comparisons?
7) Didn't see that.
8) New for Android? You seem to be comparing Nexus a lot to iPhone (didn't you complain about that above?)

OrionBeast

6) if nexus 6p = M9, then we don't really have a very high specs phone (especially since Sony or S6 or G4 does better in terms of raw performance).
7) watch it again. Lol. I swear I saw it.
8) I'm only putting it vs. iPhone because that's what Google did (I'm also an ex-iPhone user).

Someone sounds worried that people may like something other than his precious iPhone.

OrionBeast

someone is too fuckin stupid to realize what the comment is about. but commented anyway because 'Joel had his brain fucked'.

OrionBeast

his precious iPhone? i mean... its 3 years old 5s if you think its precious, you're a tool.

Lawrence

So why it is not flush.

Curtis Bond

I dunno. The more times I look at it, the less I'm put off by it. It almost seems to complement the overall design aesthetic in a weirdly-pleasant sort of way. I'm sure others are starting to feel the same way now that we aren't looking at some incomplete, low-res photos.

I was heavily leaning towards the 5x over the past couple weeks, but now I'm starting to think the 64gb 6P might be the sweet spot. Hell, that's $150 less than last year's 64gb version.

Huh, strange. I thought 2.4 GHz signals couldn't get past glass. I wonder if it's real glass or some kind of plastic that's being used here?

Sahil Tiwari

I'm a huge Robocop fan BTW

Eisenhorn1976

Looking at all the posts from Cyclops to Bender to the Cylons to Geordi and the rest, it seems this cyclops-style design has been used a ton over the years. Haha.

Google itself is a nest of nerds so I'm sure more than a few Googlers have made the same comparisons.

Nexus6p prospect

Thank you google for alienating your customers again... All nexus 6 owners who don't have 500 to drop on a new phone can't go to cheaper route and get it with a carrier.

Hot_Jan

Why would anyone design a metal back... and then realize, oops... it blocks all 6 radios
from being used????

Senseless design.

(And it scratches and dents.)

Fellwalker

And sticks out and catches, and cannot lie flat on its back. I suppose at least you'd know which way was up without looking.

Eisenhorn1976

Hmmm. That bar's coated covered with Gorilla Glass 4, right? Despite all the marketing, those damned things still get scratched-up. Google just gave these screen protector accessory makers another thing to sell us. I bet some enterprising sorts will sell ones with cut-outs for the flash and camera. Or glass ones that won't interfere with the optics or flash.

Eli McCrory

And fingerprints apparently....

m-p{3}

Well it make sense now. I think a plastic windows would have been a less fragile choice tho..

Joel

Definitely not the most beautiful thing I've ever seen on a phone, but let's face it, we all put cases on our phones anyways. Once I get a case on it, who cares? If that "ugly" bar makes my phone's reception better, makes it easier to find where the NFC is, and allows for a larger camera sensor, I'm all for it!

Christina Goehner

I've seen cases with the full bar exposed and cases with just the camera exposed. Does it matter which kind of case you use? If you get one that covers the bar, does it hinder anything?

Syed Monis

David thanks for the info.It would be really nice if you throw some light on the scratch resistance of this Black bar.I mean can i keep my Phone naked without a case and not worry much about the scratches on the glass panel at the back or its too fragile and will scratch easily. Kindly advise.